SNC:AGO RECITALISTS
Kenneth Udy: October 1, 2010
and February 8, 2004
Kenneth Udy, a native of Salt Lake City, is University Organist at the University of Utah. He earned the DMA degree in organ performance from Claremont Graduate University and has also studied at the University of Southern California and Utah State University. A practicing church organist for over twenty years, he currently serves as Director of Music and Organist at Wasatch Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City and frequently appears as a guest organist at the Salt Lake Tabernacle and with the Utah Symphony. He is active in the American Guild of Organists and served as co-chairman of the Western United States Regional AGO Convention in June 2003. Dr. Udy is the author of Alexander Schreiner: The California Years, a biography on the early career of Salt Lake Tabernacle organist Alexander Schreiner, published by Harmonie Park Press of Detroit.
PROGRAM: October 1, 2010
Toccata in D Minor ("DORIAN") BWV 538: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
"0 Jesus, what is thy Countentance" BWV 1094: J. S. Bach
Church Sonata in D, K144: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Fantasy on "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee": Harm Hoeve (b. 1964)
Gammal Fäbodpsalm (Old Pastoral Hymn): 0skar Lindberg (1887-1955)
"Holy, Holy, Holy": Marilyn Biery (b. 1959)
Allegro: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
from Concerto in F (“Cuckoo and Nightingale”) HWV 295
The Swan: Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
From Carnival of the Animals
Pastorale and Aviary: Myron J. Roberts (1912-2004)
Rhapsodie on the name of Lavoie: Denis Bédard (b. 1950)
Two Pieces, Op. 108: Joseph Jongen (1873-1953)
1. Scherzetio
2. Prière
Final, from Symphonie No. 3: Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
PROGRAM: February 8, 2004
AN ORGANIST’S YEARBOOK
JANUARY
Fanfare for the New Year: Calvin Hampton (1938-1984)
This short piece was composed in December 1983 for the New Years Eve service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City to feature its famed State Trumpet stop. Calvin Hampton was organist and choirmaster for twenty years at Calvary Episcopal Church, where he played free midnight organ recitals every Friday evening from 1972 to 1982.
FEBRUARY
Andantino in D-flat: Edwin H. Lemare (1866-1934)
Composed in 1888, this was one of Lemare's first compositions and soon became his most famous, especially after it was later rearranged and set to words as the song "Moonlight and Roses." After immigrating to the United States in 1902 from his native England, American recital audiences seldom let him off the stage without playing the Andantino.
MARCH
Londonderry Air: arr. J. Stuart Archer (1866-1953)
This melody is not an Irish folk song as supposed by many; rather, it was composed as a piece for Irish harp by Edward Bunting (1773-1843), a Belfast composer. Many poems have been set to Bunting's charming melody, the most famous being "Danny Boy" by Frederic Edward Weatherly (an English lawyer who never set foot in Ireland) in 1913.
APRIL
Toccata, from Symphony No. 5: Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
The most beloved of all French toccatas, this piece is heard as the postlude at Easter services across the world. Widor presided over the largest organ in France at St. Sulpice in Paris from 1870 until his death. The Toccata is Widor's most popular composition and dates from about 1872.
MAY
Chant de May, op. 53, no. 1: Joseph Jongen (1873-1953)
Jongen was an organist in Liege and Brussels. During World War I he and his family fled Belgium and lived in England where this piece was published in 1917. The curious use of the English word "May" in the title has led to speculation that this piece was possibly connected with a girl named May rather than the month.
JUNE
Joy and Peace, from Trilogy on Pentecost: Noel Goemanne (b. 1926)
Premiered in 1980, Trilogy is three reflections on Pentecost. This sparkling second movement features the celebrated eleventh century Pentecost plainchant Veni, Creator Spiritus. Noel Goemanne is a native of Belgium and immigrated to the United States in 1952. Since 1972 he has been organist at the Church of Christ the King in Dallas, Texas.
JULY
Variations on "America": Charles Ives (1874-1954)
The "father of American music," Ives composed this piece at the age of 16. His musical ideas and originality were often far ahead of his time. He has been called the most imaginative composer ever to have been born in America. Ives said playing the pedal variation near the end was "almost as much fun as playing baseball."
AUGUST
Hornpipe Humoresque: Noel Rawsthorne (b. 1929)
Noel Rawsthorne has composed this delightful romp "with apologies to J. S. Bach, with apologies to Vivaldi, with apologies to Arne, and with apologies to Widor" as he weaves in the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto, the Four Seasons, Rule Britannia, and the Toccata, respectively. Rawsthorne was organist of Liverpool Cathedral for 25 years from 1955 to 1980.
SEPTEMBER
Comes Autumn Time: Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)
Premiered by Eric Delamarter in 1916, this joyous piece is captioned by the poem "Autumn" by Bliss Carmen, beginning: "Now when the time of fruit and grain is come." Sowerby later orchestrated the piece for use as an overture. Sowerby was born in Michigan served as organist for 35 years at St. James' Episcopal Church in Chicago.
OCTOBER
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Possibly the most famous organ piece ever written, this brilliant and dramatic work is full of striking rhythms and florid, bravura passages. The fugue, with its restless flowing subject, is finally interrupted by a massive cadence, and ends in the spirit of the Toccata. Bach is said to have frequently used this composition when he sat down to "test" an organ.
NOVEMBER
Chorale Prelude on SINE NOMINE: Ennis Fruhauf (b. 1944)
The tune SINE NOMINE was composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) for use with the familiar All Saints Day text, "For All the Saints" and first appeared in the English Hymnal in 1906. Ennis Fruhauf is a native of Michigan and currently resides in Santa Barbara, California. He composed this Brahmsian setting in 1995.
DECEMBER
March on a Theme of Handel, op. 15, no. 2: Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
This piece was composed in 1861 and utilizes the theme from a chorus in Handel's Messiah which recalls the advent text, "Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in." Guilmant's output of organ music is enormous. This piece is considered one of his best and was highly popular during his day.